Printable face mask

ABSTRACT

A facial covering is formed from a single sheet of material. The facial covering comprises a facial coverage region for covering part of a face of a wearer and two lateral regions for holding the facial coverage region in place on the wearer. Each lateral region comprises an ear retainer and an extending section. The extending section comprises a plurality of slits disposed such that the extending section is capable of elastic extension between the ear retainer and the facial coverage region. Methods of manufacturing and of assembling such a facial covering are also described.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to a facial covering. In particular, the disclosure relates to a facial covering adapted to cover mouth and nose and suitable for use as a disposable item. Methods of manufacture and assembly of the facial covering are also described.

BACKGROUND

Facial coverings such as face masks are desirable for disease control to prevent wearers from ingesting airborne disease carrying material and particularly to prevent wearers from exhaling disease carrying material and transmitting it to others. Full clinical and surgical grade masks are designed for re-use, but these are relatively expensive items only appropriate for use in medical environments. In everyday environments where full medical masks may not be appropriate for use, simple fabric coverings may be used, but these can be of limited value in disease prevention. They are also neither straightforward to reuse nor suitable for single use, as they are not readily appropriate for recycling. It would be desirable to develop a facial covering that was easy to manufacture and provide to users, and which was also particularly suitable for single use situations.

SUMMARY OF DISCLOSURE

In a first aspect, the disclosure provides a facial covering formed from a single sheet of material, wherein the facial covering comprises: a facial coverage region for covering part of a face of a wearer; and two lateral regions for holding the facial coverage region in place on the wearer; wherein each lateral region comprises an ear retainer and an extending section, wherein the extending section comprises a plurality of slits disposed such that the extending section is capable of elastic extension between the ear retainer and the facial coverage region.

Using this approach, a very low-cost facial covering such as a facemask can be provided which is particularly suitable for single use. The extending section enables such a facemask to be effectively retained in place for a variety of wearer head sizes and shapes.

In embodiments, the slits of the plurality of slits may extend in an extension direction substantially orthogonal to a dimension of the extending section from the ear retainer to the facial coverage region. There may be a repeating pattern of slits in the extension direction. This repeating pattern may comprise a first element and a second element, wherein the first element and the second element alternate. These first elements may comprise a central single slit, and some or all of the first elements may also comprise notches in the extending section in line with the single central slit. The second elements may comprise a first slit and a second slit such that the first slit is in line with the second slit. With such an arrangement, each slit or cut in a first element may overlap a slit in an adjacent second element, and each slit in a second element may overlap a slit or cut in an adjacent first element. This assemblage of slits allows a scissor-type extension for each extending section.

The ear retainer may comprise a loop formed from a slit cut in the extending section.

The facial coverage region may have a central fold about which the facial covering is symmetric.

The facial coverage region may comprise a main region for covering a lower face of a wearer and a nose section for covering a nose of a wearer. This nose section may be connected to the main region by a neck, and the nose section may have one or more tabs adapted to slot into complementary slits in the main section.

The single sheet may be a sheet of paper or card. The facial covering may be provided within a sheet perforated for removal of the facial covering from the sheet.

In a second aspect, the disclosure provides a method of manufacturing a facial covering from a single sheet of material, comprising: providing a first pattern of cuts to enable removal of the facial covering from the sheet of material and defining a facial coverage region for covering part of a face of a wearer and two lateral regions for holding the facial coverage region in place on the wearer; and providing a second pattern of cuts to define an ear retainer and an extending section in each lateral region, wherein the second pattern of cuts provides a plurality of slits disposed in the extending section to make it capable of elastic extension between the ear retainer and the facial coverage region.

The first and second pattern of cuts may be formed by die cutting or by laser cutting. Prior to providing the first pattern of cuts and the second pattern of cuts, the facial covering may also be printed on to the single sheet of material.

In a third aspect, the disclosure provides a method of assembly of a facial covering as described in the first aspect, comprising extending the extending sections of the lateral regions and fitting the ear retainers over the ear of wearer.

Where the facial coverage region also comprises a main region for covering a lower face of a wearer and a nose section for covering a nose of a wearer, wherein the nose section is connected to the main region by a neck and the nose section has one or more tabs adapted to slot into complementary slits in the main section, the method may further comprise inserting the one or more tabs into the complementary slits before extending the extending sections.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

Embodiments of the disclosure will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the following figures, in which:

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a facial covering according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 indicates methods of manufacture and assembly of a facial covering as shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 indicates a facial covering as shown in FIG. 1 prior to assembly;

FIG. 4 shows the facial covering of FIG. 3 as part of a printed sheet;

FIG. 5 shows the facial covering of FIG. 3 with one nose tab inserted into a receiving slit;

FIG. 6 shows the facial covering of FIG. 3 with both nose tabs inserted into receiving slits;

FIG. 7 is a side view of the facial covering of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a face side view of the facial covering of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 shows the facial covering of FIG. 6 from the side with lateral sections extended;

FIG. 10 shows the facial covering of FIG. 9 in a frontal view;

FIG. 11 shows a full face view of a user wearing the facial covering of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 12 shows a profile view of a user wearing the facial covering of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A facial covering according to an embodiment of the disclosure is shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The facial covering 1 is formed from a single sheet of material. The facial covering has a facial coverage region 2 that contains a main region 3 adapted to cover the mouth and much of the lower face and a folded over nose region 4 to cover the nose. The facial covering is symmetric about a central line, which may be provided as a central fold 5. The facial covering has two lateral regions 6 extending from the main region 3 of the facial coverage region 2. Each lateral region 6 has an ear retainer 7. Between the facial coverage region 2 and the ear retainer 7 there is an extending section 8, shown in extended form in FIG. 1B. The extending section 8 comprises a plurality of slits 9. These slits enable the extending section 8 to be extended elastically to draw the ear retainer 7 away from the facial coverage region 2.

Using this approach, a facial covering particularly suitable for single use can be prepared at very low cost. The facial covering can be provided to the user as a sheet of material from which the facial covering can be pressed out, or this step can be carried out before provision and the facial covering provided in flat form for assembly. The use of the extending section enables effective retention of the facial covering on the face, and an effective fit, for a range of wearers.

For convenience, the term mask will be used below to describe the facial covering 1 of the embodiment. A mask according to this design is particularly appropriate for single use and immediate disposal, and it should not be inferred from the use of the term “mask” that a facial covering according to this design would have the full set of properties of, for example, a mask for clinical or surgical use.

Manufacture of the mask and subsequent assembly of the mask by a wearer will be described below. In general terms, this process is set out in FIG. 2. As indicated above, the mask is formed from a single sheet of material. A variety of materials may be used for this purpose—the material needs to be providable in sheet form, the resulting sheets must be manufacturable through printing and cutting into the correct form, and the material must have appropriate stiffness and resilience for assembly into mask form by the wearer and robust enough so that the mask maintains its form and stays in place when worn. Papers and other similar fibrous materials, such as light card, are suitable for this purpose. Suitable plastics materials may also be used.

FIG. 2 shows the steps of manufacture and subsequent assembly—of the steps shown, some will be carried out by the manufacturer and at least the final step by the end user. Firstly, a mask design is printed 20 on to a sheet. In some embodiments, this step could be omitted and an unprinted sheet of material used for the mask, but if designs are to be printed, or if the mask is to be provided as part of a printed sheet containing directions (as is shown in FIG. 4), then printing will take place at this point. Any appropriate printing technology can be used, and it will be straightforward to customise the mask to any design or for suitability for any user, for example by use of user-supplied artwork.

After this, cuts are made 22 in the sheet to enable the mask to be removed from the sheet and so that it can be assembled for use as described below. This may be done by any appropriate technology for use with sheets, such as die cutting or laser cutting. Different types of cut are required for the design, but these are conventional options used in a normal cutting process—“cutting” here is used in a broad sense, including perforating and scoring. Perforating may be performed around the edge of the mask to enable it to be pressed out of the sheet effectively. Cuts are made within the mask to form slits. Most of these slits are made entirely within the area of the mask pattern, but in some cases—as in the extending section 8 shown in the embodiment described below—slits may also extend from the edge perforation of the mask into the mask. The line of the central fold 5—if used—may be scored to allow a user to make the fold more easily and accurately.

At this point, the mask is still part of a sheet, but may easily be removed from the sheet by pressing out 24 using the perforations. This step may be carried out at manufacture—in which case masks are provided to the end user ready for folding—or by the end user, in which case the masks are provided to users in sheet form. This step could also be carried out by any suitable intermediary between the manufacturer and the end user.

The next step is the assembly 26 of the mask by folding, inserting tabs and extending into its final form using the slits described above. This process is described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 10.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show the mask ready for assembly—FIG. 3 shows the pre-assembly mask 100 removed from the sheet, whereas FIG. 4 shows a printed pre-assembly mask 100 still within its printed sheet 101, the outer line of the mask in embodiments being perforated to allow the pre-assembly mask to be pushed out of the sheet easily. To illustrate scale, the printed sheet of FIG. 4 is shown as a US letter size sheet.

The cuts and folds used are seen most clearly in FIG. 3. In the facial coverage region 2, the main region 3 comprises uniform area of material with two diagonally oriented slits 102 (this is relative to the vertical dimension shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 extending from top to bottom of the face of a standing user, with the horizontal dimension corresponding to a dimension across the face from ear to ear in use). The nose region 4 is separated from the main region 2 by a neck 104, with the top of the main region 3 and the bottom of the nose region 4 curved with a different radius of curvature so that when assembled, the two will be closely adjacent but without distorting the mask shape. The nose region 4 has two tabs 105 to each lateral side, the tabs being created by removal of a cut of material to provide a retaining notch 106. On assembly, this retaining notch 106 is engaged with the corresponding diagonally oriented slit 102. The line for the central fold 5, which if used may be scored for easy folding, extends vertically through the main section 3 and the nose section 4, the line lying in a plane of symmetry for the mask.

The lateral sections 6 have a more complex arrangement of cuts. The lateral sections slope upwards from the main section 2 to follow the contours of a human face. The ear retainer 7 is formed by a long slit 107 extending almost the full height of the lateral section 6 but leaving a piece of material to either side of the cut—when long slit 107 is pulled open this forms a loop into which the ear can be inserted, as discussed below. The extending section 8 has a more complex arrangement of slits and cuts 9. These slits and cuts are designed to allow the extending section to behave elastically if the mask is pulled apart laterally (if both ear retainers 7 are pulled away from each other, for example).

The extending section 8 comprises a plurality of slits 9. These slits enable the extending section 8 to be extended elastically to draw the ear retainer 7 away from the facial coverage region 2. Slit patterns of this general type are used in kirigami modelling—kirigami is a varient of origami that includes paper cutting as well as paper folding in forming representational models. Here, the extending section 8 has a pattern of vertically oriented slits. In the embodiment shown, this pattern alternates between an element with a single central slit 108 and an element with a pair of vertically distributed slits 109. In the arrangement shown, the central slits 108 are accompanied by notch cuts 110 located above and below the associated central slit 108—this is with the exception of the central slit 108 closest to the main section 2, which has no associated notch cuts 109. Each vertical slit pattern is spaced equally from the next vertical slit pattern. Each slit or notch cut extends vertically so as to overlap an adjacent notch or slit in each adjacent element in the pattern—these overlaps are of substantially the same length. As is described below, this enables the extending section 8 to be extended by pulling in the manner of a scissor-type extension arm.

The process of assembly is shown with reference to FIGS. 5 to 10. First of all, each tab 105 is inserted (FIG. 5) into its respective diagonal slit 102 so that it is held in place by retaining notch 106 (FIG. 6). The mask may be folded along the central fold 5 and the facial covering region is now configured to cover the mouth and nose of a wearer, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

After this, the ear retainers 7 may be pulled away from the main section 2 to create an elastic extending section 8 with the ear retainers formed as loops, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. The ear retainers 7 can then be placed over the ears of a wearer, and held in place by the elasticity of the extending section 8. As can be seen from FIGS. 11 and 12, this allows for the mask to fit the wearer effectively, with the elasticity compensating for variation in user head size and shape.

Embodiments may vary from that shown above. Different patterns of slits may be used to achieve an elastic extending section while following the principles shown in the embodiment shown. Modifications may be made to different sections such as the ear retainers and the nose section to adapt to different face shapes—masks may be provided in different sizes and for different facial shapes.

The skilled person will appreciate that many further embodiments are possible within the spirit and scope of the disclosure set out here. 

1. A facial covering formed from a single sheet of material, wherein the facial covering comprises: a facial coverage region for covering part of a face of a wearer; and two lateral regions for holding the facial coverage region in place on the wearer; wherein each lateral region comprises an ear retainer and an extending section, wherein the extending section comprises a plurality of slits disposed such that the extending section is capable of elastic extension between the ear retainer and the facial coverage region.
 2. The facial covering of claim 1, wherein the slits of the plurality of slits extend in an extension direction substantially orthogonal to a dimension of the extending section from the ear retainer to the facial coverage region.
 3. The facial covering of claim 2, wherein there is a repeating pattern of slits in the extension direction.
 4. The facial covering of claim 3, wherein the repeating pattern comprises a first element and a second element, wherein the first element and the second element alternate.
 5. The facial covering of claim 4, wherein the first elements comprise a central single slit.
 6. The facial covering of claim 5, wherein some or all of the first elements also comprise notches in the extending section in line with the single central slit.
 7. The facial covering of claim 4, wherein the second elements comprise a first slit and a second slit such that the first slit is in line with the second slit.
 8. The facial covering of claim 4, wherein each slit or cut in a first element overlaps a slit in an adjacent second element, and wherein each slit in a second element overlaps a slit or cut in an adjacent first element.
 9. The facial covering of claim 1, wherein the ear retainer comprises a loop formed from a slit cut in the extending section.
 10. The facial covering of claim 1, wherein the facial coverage region has a central fold about which the facial covering is symmetric.
 11. The facial covering of claim 1, wherein the facial coverage region comprises a main region for covering a lower face of a wearer and a nose section for covering a nose of a wearer.
 12. The facial covering of claim 11, wherein the nose section is connected to the main region by a neck.
 13. The facial covering of claim 12, wherein the nose section has one or more tabs adapted to slot into complementary slits in the main section.
 14. The facial covering of claim 1, wherein the single sheet is a sheet of paper or card.
 15. The facial covering of claim 1, wherein the facial covering is provided within a sheet perforated for removal of the facial covering from the sheet.
 16. A method of manufacturing a facial covering from a single sheet of material, comprising: providing a first pattern of cuts to enable removal of the facial covering from the sheet of material and defining a facial coverage region for covering part of a face of a wearer and two lateral regions for holding the facial coverage region in place on the wearer; and providing a second pattern of cuts to define an ear retainer and an extending section in each lateral region, wherein the second pattern of cuts provides a plurality of slits disposed in the extending section to make it capable of elastic extension between the ear retainer and the facial coverage region.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first and second pattern of cuts are formed by die cutting or by laser cutting.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein prior to providing the first pattern of cuts and the second pattern of cuts, the facial covering is printed on to the single sheet of material.
 19. A method of assembly of a facial covering as claimed in claim 1, comprising extending the extending sections of the lateral regions and fitting the ear retainers over the ear of wearer.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the facial coverage region also comprises a main region for covering a lower face of a wearer and a nose section for covering a nose of a wearer, wherein the nose section is connected to the main region by a neck and the nose section has one or more tabs adapted to slot into complementary slits in the main section, the method further comprising inserting the one or more tabs into the complementary slits before extending the extending sections. 